Contemporary Low Power Design Approaches

Bandgap Reference Circuit (Bgr)

Electronic devices require steady and constant power supply in order to function smoothly, without flaws. With growth in demand for more portable electronic devices, more and more circuits and systems would require low power, small area and low cost features. Bandgap reference is one of the essential units in analog circuit systems. It provides a constant voltage supply regardless of fluctuations or changes in temperature and power supply. Brokaw Paul (1981) invented the first BGR circuit which has a temperature compensated band-gap reference of the type employing two transistors operating at different current densities to develop a positive TC (Temperature Coefficient) current. As CMOS technology developing rapidly and bringing us into the era of high integration and ultra-low power consumption, the need for lower than the conventional bandgap voltage reference was created. Hence, it is critical to design low power consumption bandgap reference circuits which work under low voltage supply and yet compatible with other modern circuit blocks. There are a number of researchers or authors such as Bo Wanget al. (2015), Klimach H. et al. (2013) and Yat-Hei Lam et al. (2010). They have contributed new solutions based on the concept of using a fraction of the original bandgap voltage level.